shuffle random wallpaper

[aloispichler]

To randomly pick (shuffle) a wallpaper out of a set of wallpapers, I had

exec-once=swaybg -i $(shuf -n1 -e /usr/share/backgrounds/xfce/ArchSimple.png /usr/share/backgrounds/xfce/arch2024.jpg /usr/share/backgrounds/xfce/arch2023.jpg /usr/share/backgrounds/xfce/arch10.jpg)

How can this be accomplished with hyprpaper?
I want to avoid preloading all.

[vaxerski]

edit the config with something like sed and then launch?

[jerilMJ]

Just adding a working example snippet from my config.

$SCRIPTS_DIR/pick_wallpaper.sh:

# Pick random wallpaper
random_pick=$(find "$wp_dir" -type f -name "*.png" -o -name "*.jpg" | shuf -n1)
# Replace the placeholder in template and save to .conf file
sed -e "s~<wp>~${random_pick}~g" $conf_dir/templates/hyprpaper.template > $conf_dir/hyprpaper.conf

$conf_dir/templates/hyprpaper.template:

$wp = <wp>
preload = $wp
wallpaper = , $wp

then just exec-once it

exec-once = $SCRIPTS_DIR/pick_wallpaper.sh && hyprpaper

[GscheadaHamme]

@jerilMJ thanks for that simple but effective solution.

Simple keybinding to load random wallpaper in hyprland.conf:

bind = $mainMod, W, exec, pkill hyprpaper && $pickWallpaper && hyprpaper

[fxzzi]

An extremely simple script could do this for you:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

WALLPAPER_DIR="$HOME/walls/images/"
CURRENT_WALL=$(hyprctl hyprpaper listloaded)

# Get a random wallpaper that is not the current one
WALLPAPER=$(find "$WALLPAPER_DIR" -type f ! -name "$(basename "$CURRENT_WALL")" | shuf -n 1)

# Apply the selected wallpaper
hyprctl hyprpaper reload ,"$WALLPAPER"

no need to modify the config or preload anything or restart hyprpaper.

[GscheadaHamme]

That's a good solution, if you don't want the change to be persistent.

jerilMJ's solution is on point for changing the default wallpaper as the change is persistent after restart.

[fxzzi]

does that not defeat the purpose of it being randomised? If you were to save the wallpaper isn't that just a less convenient wallpaper picker?

[GscheadaHamme]

No, since I like to pick a random wallpaper from time to time, but not after every reboot.
That way I can choose the time when I want to change things up a bit, not the next update requiring a reboot.

[fxzzi]

ok, then you can pick a wallpaper, symlink it somewhere like ~/.local/state/wallpaper and have hyprpaper load from that path instead. then it will save across reboots and until you manually randomize the wallpaper again. a script like this should work (untested):

#!/usr/bin/env bash

WALLPAPER_DIR="$HOME/walls/images/"
WALL_LOC="$XDG_STATE_HOME/wallpaper"

# Get a random wallpaper that is not the current one
WALLPAPER=$(find "$WALLPAPER_DIR" -type f ! -name "$(basename "$(readlink -e $WALL_LOC)")" | shuf -n 1)

# symlink somewhere
ln -sf $WALLPAPER $WALL_LOC

# Apply the selected wallpaper
hyprctl hyprpaper reload ,"$WALLPAPER"

[GscheadaHamme]

You really don't like the idea of modifying the config and restarting hyprpaper hahaha
Thanks for the tip, looks promising.

[fxzzi]

you're right xd

sed'ing the config file and then restarting hyprpaper is just really hacky tbh. I assume you lose the nice animation when switching wallpapers if you did it like that. I mean if it works for you then sure, go for it, but imo there are better methods than sed'ing and restarting

[GscheadaHamme]

Yeah, you're right, reloading looks like the way to go.